MEDIA INDIGENA : Indigenous current affairs

This week: the not-so-amazing race to form Canada's next government! That's right: it's federal election time from now until October 21. But will Indigenous interests factor much if at all into this election? We discuss the recent efforts by the Assembly of First Nations to make sure that happens. Joining host/producer Rick Harp at the roundtable are Brock Pitawanakwat, Associate Professor of Indi...

From the second it hit social media, the new ad campaign for the House of Dior's so-called 'Sauvage' cologne kicked up a stink. In fact, as soon as Native Twitter got wind of the new video—starring the notorious Johnny Depp—the blowback was fast, furious and less than fragrant. In our return to all-new episodes, we try to make 'scents' of why Indian Country's collective nose is so out of joint. Ba...

On this week's collected, connected conversations—the last in our Summer Series—the serious business of self-Indigenization. On its face, Indigenous identity would seem like it would be simple to understand who is and who isn't First Nations, Inuit or Metis. That is, if you choose to look past the colonial elephant in the room. And yet, complicated and confusing as colonialism can make the identif...

On this week's collected, connected conversations (number eight in our Summer Series): comprehending and combating Climate Change. And as our current crisis continues to heat up the planet, it's also lit a fire under MEDIA INDIGENA. That's partly because we know that climate change disproportionately impacts Indigenous peoples—despite Indigenous knowledges offering critical clues to how to help co...

On this week's collected, connected conversations (the seventh in our Summer Series): the other half of our two-part look at remaking the Indigenous family. Last episode, we got into the colonial principles of Settler family forms and norms. This episode, we lay out how they are applied in practice, with Indigenous people often on the receiving end. And if the expression "What you believe in, you...

On this episode's collected, connected conversations (the sixth in this Summer Series): Part One of "Re-making the Indigenous Family." Said to be among society's most sacrosanct institutions, 'The Family' is a core site and source of social reproduction. But is the Settler family form the only way to organize human relations? Does it matter that this dominant, mainstream form differs from those of...

On this week's collected, connected conversations (the fifth of our summertime shows): how core concepts of Christianity continue to inspire and infuse the laws, attitudes and actions of supposedly secular Settler states toward Indigenous peoples. Featured voices this podcast include (in order of appearance): Kim TallBear , associate professor of Native Studies at the University of Alberta and Can...

On this week's collected, connected conversations (the fourth in our Summer Series shows): reckoning with Reconciliation. But what is 'Reconciliation'? How should it happen? Questions that arise time and time again on our podcast. Questions that are essential to confront for any Settler colonial state like Canada—or at least would be if Canada was serious about moving away from a foundation built...

On this week's collected, connected conversations (the third in our Summer Series), we head to the lab to put Science under the microscope. From archaeology to genetics to the ethics of biological research, Indigenous people are commonly subjects of study. Studies that often get us wrong or worse, just flat-out deny the worth of our own forms of inquiry and knowledge . Featured voices this podcast...

This week's collected, connected conversations, the second in our Summer Series, feature a focus on the media. From blatant double-standards, to persistent narratives of First Nations 'failure,' to victim-blaming, Canadian media has long misrepresented Indigenous peoples, which is why we've so often reported on the reporters. Featured voices this podcast include (in order of appearance): Kim TallB...

Given how all of our Summer Series shows dig deep into our archives, perhaps it's only fitting that our first episode of the season explores history and heroes. Although, as you'll hear, what constitutes the latter is certainly in the eye of the beholder. Featured voices this podcast include (in order of appearance): Kisha Supernant , anthropological archaeologist and associate professor at the Un...

THIS WEEK: Vetting the V-word. 'Victims' and 'victimhood'—it's controversial conceptual territory for many, and depending on your vantage point, distressing for different reasons. In this, our third and final look at reactions stirred up by the report of the Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, we get into when the word works for us or potentially works against us, a large...

What's in a word? Well, when that word is "genocide" and you're part of Canada's mostly-white, mostly-male commentariat, nothing, apparently. And if you're like the Prime Minister, the word supposedly matters much less than the vague actions we should focus on going forward. In part two of our extended look at the report of the Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, we exami...

This episode, we discuss reaction to the final report of Canada's National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls . T his week marks the official release of that report, just days after details of a leaked copy were circulated by the media. But did publishing that "unauthorized document" compromise the core messages of the report? More importantly, did it risk further traumat...

This week: State of Alienation. It was a country that didn't even exist 120 years ago. Yet, today, authorities in Australia are convinced they're somehow justified in declaring certain Indigenous people to be illegal 'aliens,' individuals the state feels it has the right to kick off the continent despite their connection to cultures which have occupied that continent for tens of thousands of years...

THIS WEEK: R aising (and removing) red flags in Saskatchewan. A small Prairie village suddenly finds itself at the centre of a storm after one of its residents publicly displays flags long associated with hate. Now a First Nations man is being investigated by police after taking it upon himself to take down those symbols. Joining host/producer Rick Harp back at the roundtable this week are Brock P...

THIS WEEK: Earth's bio-diversity death spiral — can we change course? A new United Nations study paints a dark picture of the future, a future pretty much guaranteed if we as a planet continue to follow a path of economic, political and ecological auto-asphyxiation. We discuss why some feel our greatest hope lies in the collective example set by many Indigenous peoples. Joining host/producer Rick...

This week: How a lake in the States lost its Indigenous name, re-gained it, only to potentially lose it again because of a Minnesota court decision. Join us as we dive into the details of the Dakota waters known as Bde Maka Ska (aka Lake Calhoun). Sitting with host/producer Rick Harp at the roundtable this week are Brock Pitawanakwat, Associate Professor of Indigenous Studies at York University, a...

Picking up where last week's round table left off, this week is the second half of our deep dive into the dark response to the Notre Dame Cathedral fire, as we explore whether the spiritual schism triggered by its destruction might actually contain ingredients of a "teachable moment" for non-Indigenous people. Back with host/producer Rick Harp at the round table are Candis Callison, Visiting Profe...

This week: the Indigenous 'grief gap' over Notre Dame. We'll react to the reaction that flooded social media over footage of the fire that ripped through France's Notre Dame cathedral. What do we make of the apparent lack of sympathy displayed by some Indigenous meme-makers and their fans? Joining host/producer Rick Harp back at the roundtable this week are Candis Callison, Visiting Professor of C...

This week: Sonic sovereignty? With Inuit widely credited as creators of a distinctive form of throat-singing, does it follow that they alone should get to perform it? We'll discuss the increasingly vocal fallout over the fact that a Cree throat-singer is up for an Indigenous Music Award. Joining host/producer Rick Harp at the roundtable once again are Brock Pitawanakwat, associate professor of Ind...

This week: Crashing the Liberal party. After an advocate interrupts a recent partisan fundraiser to implore Canada's prime minister to do right by a First Nation ravaged by industrial pollution, Justin Trudeau thought it'd be funny to thank her for her 'donation' as security escorted her out. Caught on video, the glib comment hit a nerve on social media, prompting some to wonder if it could cost L...

What happens when you reverse the lens and try to unpack what it means to be a Settler? What's the difference between Settler colonialism and white supremacy—is it one of kind or degree? And can we ever hope to solve "The Settler Problem"? Joining host/producer Rick Harp at the roundtable this week are Associate Professor of Indigenous Studies at York University, Brock Pitawanakwat, and Chris Powe...

It's being called a reconciliatory move: a new Liberal budget forgiving interest charges on loans taken out by First Nations to cover the costs of treaty negotiations in British Columbia. But just how grateful should anyone be to a country that imposed such loans in the first place? Back at the roundtable with host/producer Rick Harp this week are Candis Callison, Visiting Professor of Canadian St...

This week, another stolen generation, another class action. Three billion dollars, thousands upon thousands of children. These are the stakes of a potential class action alleging the federal government knowingly and "systematically" underfunded child and family services on-reserve, a neglect that's led to the widespread removal of First Nations children from their homes. Negligence that now has le...